But when you consider the fact that leads from search engines have a 14.6% close rate, while outbound leads (ex. cold-calling, direct mail, etc.) have a 1.7% close rate, there’s no denying that sales teams and business development professionals need to have at least some sort of knowledge around how SEO works.

Demystifying Content Marketing & SEO for the Biz Dev Pro

In order to help demystify some of the confusing and complex lingoes around SEO, here are some important basics for business development professionals to understand:

1. Quality Keywords > Quantity of KeywordsOptimizing your website or blog for keywords is not about incorporating as many keywords into it as possible. In fact, loading your website with keywords might actually hurt SEO, because search engines will think you’re keyword stuffing. Rather than trying to include specific keywords as many times as possible on your pages, use them in your content in a way that doesn’t feel unnatural or forced.

2. Consider the long-tail approach.Google wants to provide users with the most valuable information as possible. Their algorithms are becoming a lot more sophisticated when it comes to providing recommended pages to detailed searches. As a result, long-tail keywords have become an incredibly valuable area to focus your attention. Since website visitors searching long-tail terms will often be more qualified, using long-tail keywords may be more efficient. In other words, you’ll bring in the right type of traffic—visitors who convert—by using long-tail keywords.

3. Don’t ignore metadata descriptions.A meta description is the additional text that appears on search engines that lets readers know what the link is about. While the meta description gives searchers information they need to determine whether or not your content is what they’re looking for, it’s also incredibly important for SEO rankings. By creating reader-friendly metadata descriptions with natural keyword inclusion, you’ll make it easier for Google to prove your posts’ relevance and search engine rankings.